Kia ora whānau,
So, it’s June already. International Pride month! Isn’t that ridiculous? bad apple has been out in the ether for just shy of a month and I still can’t believe it! Okay, that’s a bit of a lie, I definitely can believe it when I’m loading in articles at 11:00 pm the night before they go live but that’s neither here nor there.
Ultimately, I am so grateful for the absolute outpouring of support from our community. We exist to give you a platform and seeing people actually pay attention across social media couldn’t be a better reward. I know the entire volunteer team feels the same.
Before I get into what the future holds for bad apple, let’s reflect on a few highlights from the last few weeks:
J. Wiremu Kane’s Wātaka II: Purea connected with many folks across social media and spoke to the dissatisfaction with Indigenous Peoples’ place in a colonised society.
Asia Martusia’s Pam: An Autobiography, our first comic, was a fun romp around ideas of gender identity, expression and fluidity in a cartoon form.
rhys feeney told us it is now safe to turn off your computer in a poem that managed to touch on assassinations in Haiti, floppy disks and breakfast bars all in one go.
And harold coutts became our first regular contributor with their weekly RPDR RuCap column The Inner Saboteur, where they chat with local drag performers about who’s gonna snatch the crown.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, get yourself clicking through the categories and collections to find more brilliant work from our contributors.
On the topic of collections, we have received some feedback and we know that at the moment they could be considered a bit … abstract. We’re working on adding descriptions to each one to help our readers understand the feel of each collection.
Feedback is a vital tool for us to figure out what is working and what needs improvement. That’s why we’ve decided to hold our first community hui since the launch! It’s the perfect opportunity for you to talk with our contributors, editors and volunteers, and for us to get to know you. This will help to decide the path bad apple will take going forward!
The bad apple Community Hui will take place on our Discord server at 7:00 pm on Thursday 23 July. You can become a member of our Discord at https://discord.gg/TAD43UGdan.
I don’t want to drag this letter out too much. I’d much rather give space to more interesting and talented people, so I’ll try and spitfire my last few things.
Happy International Pride!
Woah, Our Flag Means Death how about that huh?
Listen to Rina Sawayama’s This Is Hell.
Go see twisting, turning, winding: takatāpui + queer objects at Object Space in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Attend the Queer Arts Festival in Te Whanganui-a-Tara.
Submit me your writing, photos and art PLEASE.
Message me if you think I’m cute and wanna go on a date.
Be gay! Do crimes!
Damien Levi,
bad apple Lead Editor
damien@badapple.gay
Featured photo courtesy of author.
